Ford’s vaccine planning is mad
Re Slow, uneven and uncertain, Editorial, Feb. 26
Doug Ford, Rick Hillier, and Christine Elliott say a vaccination plan isn’t necessary until Ontario gets its vaccines. Following this logic, teachers won’t need lesson plans until their students get to class; grocers won’t need their shelves stocked until customers come to shop; and parents-to-be won’t need nurseries until their babies are born.
Our pandemic warriors have evidently morphed into the feckless but freckled Alfred E. Neuman, whose smiling, gap-toothed and idiotic mug adorned the cover of Mad magazine. Alfred always asked, “What, me worry?”
Nah, our dear leader won’t need a campaign plan until we’re ready to vote.
Fat chance!
Salvatore Amenta, Stouffville
According to this, there is no specific schedule for people with underlying conditions. After numerous emails and calls, I could not find anyone involved in the rollout who knows the criteria for a chronic condition.
I would hope my son who needs the vaccine in a very timely manner would qualify. He has Down Syndrome, so COVID-19 puts him at a higher risk because of a weak immune system.
If he has to be hospitalized with COVID-19, a family member probably would not be allowed to accompany him because he is 32 years old. Leaving my son in a hospital would be like sending a four-year-old without a parent. Lynn Crymble, Stouffville
I have been trying since mid-December to get an answer to a very simple question. I have posed it to Health Canada, Ontario Health Ministry, MP Patty Hajdu, Justin Trudeau, Christine Elliot and Doug Ford. When I do get a response, it is invariably a form-letter reply.
The question is: Will persons with immune system suppression (such as organ transplant recipients), autoimmune disorders, serious respiratory diseases, heart issues and other serious underlying conditions be considered as high-risk individuals and have a priority within the hierarchy of the vaccine rollout?
Failure to recognize this population as being high risk seems like a grave oversight.
I am certain that, among seniors, there is a significant number of people who have serious underlying conditions, and are at much higher risk than a healthy 75- or 80-year-old.
I fall into this category, as I have a kidney transplant and have a suppressed immune system, as well as a serious respiratory condition.
It appears that I will likely have to wait until mid-May as I am in the 70-75 age group. My wife and I will have to continue living in fear and isolation until our “turn” comes around.
Ron Ashenhurst, Niagara-on-the-Lake
Where did the vaccines go? Two weeks ago, Ontario’s website advised that it expected five million doses in each of April and May. That is now reduced to 2.6 million. Where did the other 2.4 million doses go?
And why is the rollout so complex? Ontario’s Health Cards have our age, home address and phone number. Surely someone at Ontario Health could figure out how to mail an appointment letter to persons in age priority order? There could be instructions in the letter on where to phone if that was a problem.
Instead, all 14 million of us will be phoning or using an unproven web site to “book” a vaccine.
It’s a recipe for disaster, particularly among the working poor, many of whom don’t have web access, or time to spend hours on hold.
Mike Sullivan, Stratford
It is easily seen by the progress of the vaccination rollout to date that pushing the vaccination down to the health-unit level is wrong-headed.
Some health units outside the metropolitan areas are charging ahead with vaccination, while areas that are most hard hit with the virus are stagnating.
It is understandable that each health unit is fixated on looking after their own, but this will not stop the virus flow and the corresponding deaths.
Only vaccinating by area code and focusing on the most heavily affected will stop the spread.
Someone needs to wake Ford’s government up.
Bob Smith, Mississauga
The Star has reported that the City of Toronto is planning nine vaccination centres on or before April 1. If this is truly a war against COVID-19, this degree of disclosure and planning is inadequate.
Nine centres in a city of this geographic size and population is either due to lack of vaccine or imagination.
If Toronto Public Health is actually ahead of the curve, we would expect public clinics would be operated around the clock and more sites scattered about the community.
R. D. Speers, Etobicoke
It is a year since COVID-19 stepped into our shores. I am not as tired of the virus as I am of the 20 per cent or more of Canadians who do not wear masks and do not walk away when they are moving toward you.
Or the incompetence of the Ontario government with its lockdown, open, lockdown, open, mandates.
Premier Doug Ford has lost whatever respect he gained from the first wave, especially with his cruel sick days attitude.
Then there’s Minister Merrilee Fullerton; Minister Christine Elliott; and the incompetent Dr. David Williams.
The same is true for retired general Rick Hillier and his we-are-ready-butthe-vaccines-are-not-here stance.
The vaccines are here now and we have to wait for March 15 before we can book an appointment.
What preparation did he make in all the time he had? And what are we supposed to do between now and then? O Canada, we stand on guard for thee. But do you stand on guard for us? Alberto Sarthou, Toronto
Re Vaccine prep varies widely across province,
Feb. 27
The province says they will open a portal on March 15 for registration for vaccines. I suppose at least half a million in Toronto will try to be first in line and chaos will result.
I think that all the necessary information is on file at Service Canada, either in the form of a health card, or a driver’s licence.
It should not be beyond a computerliterate person to gather all this and make a list, and contact the elderly, of whom I am one, having been born in 1930.
I would love to have the vaccine and wish the people in authority would make sensible decisions.
Barbara Harrison, Toronto
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